Things that I am sick and tired of hearing about Ralph Wilson

Except for points 5 & 6
I hope you are not disputing the old part? And I can’t speak to the senile part other than the rare times we see him speak he really does not come across like a guy with all of his wits. I must admit that saying old & senile sometimes makes the frustration we feel easier to deal with. The reality is that this is the ninth year in a row that we’ve missed the playoffs, which makes it the longest drought in team history. And I think as fans we have a right to be upset. I personally own 4 season tickets so I am not only a fan but also a customer. As a customer I have a right to voice my opinion. Unlike other products it’s not as easy as to say “well I’ll bring my business elsewhere” because I’m a Bills fan and I wish to remain one so the only option is to vent loud and often and hope that someone is listening.

Mr Wilson is 90 years old. I wonder how many companies out there have president & CEO’s that are even remotely so old – the answer is probably NONE. If things were perfect and we were contenders each year nobody would care how old Wilson is but we are not contenders, instead we are the joke of the league. Frankly I really don’t care about the fiasco that happened with Donahue because Wilson was the president/CEO so it was up to him to use better judgment when he hired him in the first place. The problem was not to entrust someone to manage the business it was who he chose. He did not do anything about it for 5 years, he only has himself to blame. So the argument that he is somehow gun shy doesn’t fly well with me. One way or the other he is the president/CEO because he so chooses and he is the guy complaints funnel up to.

As fans/customers investing time and money into this organization we would like to know and understand its long term viability, is that not a decent request? Today we have an owner who clearly has expressed that the team will get sold to the highest bidder upon his death. He made it clear that there is no commitment to necessarily stay in Buffalo and why should he? It’s a business and he makes money with it, which bring me to the part that upsets me in your statement – that somehow we owe him something? I pay for my tickets and I pay for my apparel. If he was loosing money he would not be doing this, believe me! Because he paid so little for it back in 1960 the cash flow today even for a small market team is probably incredible. Most teams have a lot of debt and interest which he doesn’t. He makes a lot of money with this and even though the product has been sub-par for many years, he still has his loyal fan base why would he ever consider moving? He would have to invest a ton of money in a new stadium and there is no way that another city would support such mediocrity. So really keeping the team in Buffalo for him is not because of loyalty it just business.

I wish Mr Wilson many more years of good health but I also wish to see him sell the team or at least a large portion of it so that there are other people involved that will have a longer vested interest in the long term success and survival of the team. This would help calm the uncertainty surrounding the future of the team.

I couldn’t agree more. Look at the other two active original AFL owners—Bud Adams moved his franchise to another city, and Al Davis is, well, Al Davis. Every time the Raiders make another ridiculous move, I think about how lucky we are that Ralph’s not anything like Al Davis.

yeah he spends like crazy on some contracts because HE HAS TOO……he has to spend up to 80% of the alloted cap space (IIRC of course – i know its something like that) But on other things like oh……paying coaches and training staff and such you can tell he’s being cheap…..the whole adage you get what you pay for is evident in the fact that our guys are ALWAYS hurt and going on IR and our Coaches sometimes make it seem like they cant coach their way outta a wet paper bag.

this is from Mark Weiler at afceastreport.com – one of the most objective writers on the Bills I have ever read and the guy seems to always be right. I recommend reading his articles if you have the chance.

He just posted an article on Ralph and I thought this section fit in for this post. Because this is what I am sick of regarding Ralph:

Under Wilson’s ownership, the Bills, his franchise, and in the NFL, are 282-314-2 for a winning percentage of .472. If we back out the seasons which were directly influenced by Bill Polian, the Bills are 199-254-2 and a winning percentage of .437.

If we give Polian the same courtesy afforded Levy/Jauron, Donadope/Gilbride/Mularkey, etc., and discount the first two years and make the third season the indicator, then the Bills are 212-288-2 otherwise for a winning percentage of .422.

As such, Jauron is 20-26 and .435 and is simply the norm for this Bills organization under Wilson. The hiccup was under Polian’s reign and Wilson is solely responsible, singlehandedly, for ending that.

In the 8 seasons under Polians guidance, for which I include the ‘93 season and final Super Bowl year given that it was his team on the field as much as if not more than anyone else’s, the Bills managed to go to the playoffs in 6 of 8 seasons and went to four Super Bowls and had a 10-6 playoff record.

In 39 NFL seasons the Bills have made the playoffs in only 13 seasons. Of those 13 seasons, only 7 of 31 seasons were not under Polian. The Bills’ lost in the first round of 5 of those 7 seasons and in the second round in the other two and posted a 2-7 record in them. And frankly, it can be argued, easily, that their ’95 season playoff win in the wild-card round was still on the team that Polian built to a large extent and thereby reducing that record to 1-7 in that sense.

The point is that Wilson’s Bills outside the Polian era have been abysmal! We all know that Polian was almost singlehandedly responsible for the only succcessful era of Bills football.

Negligent owner Ralph Wilson is spoken of by many as a great owner. But what has he done? Al Davis takes heat for a variety of things, the least of which not being his mental state and associated decision making. Even though he is over 10 years younger than Wilson, he has accomplished so much more over the timeline of NFL history, both with his franchise as well as for the NFL in general. Wilson on the other hand has arguably not made one significant lasting contribution to the NFL and the life cycle status of his team speaks for itself.